How to Change Keyboard Language in Windows 7, 8, and 10

Windows 8 and 10 - Changing the Input Language

This document describes how to change the keyboard input language in Windows 8.

Adding an Input Language

1. Open the Control Panel:
   
   1. Under Clock, Language, and Region, click Add a language.
      
   2. Click the Add a language button.
      
   3. Select the language you would click, then click Add.
      
   4. You should see the language you added appear in the list below.

   Switching Between Languages

   Windows 10:

   In the lower right corner of the screen, press the icon that has the character sequence representing the current language. This will allow you to switch languages.

   Windows 8:

2. Press Windows + I or move your mouse to the bottom left corner of the screen and click on the gear icon.
3. You can switch the input language two ways:
   
   • Press Alt + Shift.
   • Click on the language icon and then click on the language you would like to switch to to switch input languages.
     
     
     Generally all Windows computer have English as default language which is popular and handy to the most of computer users but whenever you need to type in different languages as per your requirements you need to change keyboard language to the desired one from default language, also a non-English speaking person mostly needs their native language as the keyboard input. However changing the default display language of Windows is another thing which shows everything in selected language, you can also change display language easily by following this article.
     The language of the keyboard can easily be changed from English to French, English to Hindi, French to English, US English etc. just few settings need to be modified in the Control Panel. This can be done by changing the language as well as the keyboard settings. It is important to note that when one switches languages in Windows, configuration of settings happens as per the application. The input language has to be changed depending on the program that is being used. This can be done very easily with the help of language bar which automatically shows up when another language is added to Windows.

     Change keyboard language in Windows 8 and 10

   • To change keyboard language in Windows 8/10, firstly open the Control Panel and click Language.
   
4. Now click on Add a Language option. As compared to Windows 7, Windows 8/10 have a good interface to browse languages. A nice preview can be obtained of characters of all languages.

• Choose the language and click on ‘Add’ option which lies at the bottom. Now, this would be seen as installed language. Some messages are also sent from Windows as necessary files for language are being installed.

• Language pack can also be downloaded for this newly installed language. With this, the display language of Windows can be changed. Input methods can also be added for a particular language.

Changing the keyboard language in Windows 7

• For Windows 7 and Vista, open Control Panel and click on the option Region and Language.

• Now click on the tab ‘Keyboards and Languages’ and then click on the tab ‘Change Keyboards’. The current default input language along with the installed services would be displayed. For adding a language, click on ‘Add’ button.

• Scroll down for seeing options of the language that need to be added. Expand the keyboard section. Based on the physical keyboard that is being used, use the correct keyboard option. Different options have to be checked out because sometimes the keyboard doesn’t work out properly.

• Click on ‘Preview’ option for seeing how the language characters are mapped to the keyboard that is being used.

Change Keyboard Language in Windows XP

• For Windows XP, go to the Control Panel and opt for ‘Regional and Language’ option.

• Now click on Languages tab, after which click on Details button. With this, Input Languages Dialog box would be loaded. Here, the list of keyboards and installed services on your PC would be displayed.

• Click Add for installing a new input language and keyboard language. Choose the type of keyboard and input language.

Using Language Bar

When a new language is being installed in Windows, the language bar is automatically enabled which you can find on the taskbar. This bar is very useful to switch between languages in Windows. Only one language is not going to be used for all applications and so, it is easy to switch with the language bar.

Once you click on language selector it will pop different installed languages to choose according to your choice.

Above are easy to follow methods to change keyboard language on the different version of windows, like XP, windows 7, Windows 8, 8.1 and windows 10.

Bonus Tip – If you want to type in different languages only for few times you can go for online typing sites which offer different languages to type using English as well as language specific keyboards, this is suitable for certain applications and small scale typing where you don’t need to change keyboard language of your computer.